By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner
NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued another dire warning for Israel – the clock is winding down on the Jewish state.
The religious leader said via his Twitter feed Sept. 9 that Israel "will not see the next 25 years," even after nuclear negotiations with the world powers are supposed to have curtailed Iran's ambition for nuclear weapons.
"God willing, there will be no such thing as a Zionist regime in 25 years," Khamenei wrote on the social media site. According to Khamenei, until Iran is able to complete its goal of the complete annihilation of Israel, "the struggling, heroic and jihadi morale will leave no moment of security for Zionists."
The quote, according to the Times of Israel, was taken from a speech the Ayatollah had given earlier in the day. The speech was also reported in Iranian media.
In the speech, Khamenei blasted the United States, which he said had been "hypocritical" in its approach toward Iran as U.S. negotiators smiled while Congress sought to derail the plan. He also claimed the U.S. – still "the Great Satan" – was using the negotiations as a means to influence and "infiltrate" Iran.
To read more, visit the Christian … [Read more...]

NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – Al Qaeda's newest edition of Inspire, a jihadist magazine aimed at recruiting terrorists from among the English-speaking world, encourages black Americans to rise up against their own government, the Middle East Media Research Institute has reported.
In the Inspire article titled, "The Blacks in America," a writer calling himself Abu Abdiliah Al-Moravid claims the recent killings of blacks such as Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Md., and nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., are unlike anything found in Islam.
Islam, Al-Moravid writes, "does not allow even the smallest kind of injustice, be it by words or having contempt for a particular race. We the Mujahedeen are a portion of the Muslim Ummah (nation), we do not accept any type of oppression against our Muslim brothers among the Afro-Americans, or even the non-Muslims. And the opposite of oppression is Justice, and this was we have been commanded by our religion."
Al-Moravid also claims the American media is helping white power structures in the country conceal the truth of what happened to Brown, Gray and others. In particular, he targets FOX News, the tool of the "Anglo-Saxon … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Message Editor
ALEXANDRIA – David Platt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, shared that the overseas missions group had overspent its budget by $210 million since 2010, including $39 million in 2014, alone, dropping operating reserves to 4 months of funding, below the minimum 6 months amount advised by the SBC Executive Committee.
Consequently, he said, the IMB plans to reduce its workforce – field missionaries and staff – by 600-800 people.
PRESENT REALITIES
During a conference call with reporters August 27 Platt laid out the situation in terms of a crisis of IMB’s own making.
“The challenge we’re addressing is that despite increased giving to the IMB over the last four years, for example, we have consistently spent more money than has been given to us each year,” Platt explained.
“What we realized,” he said, “is as we got into the budgeting process this year – even since the SBC—that not only did we have that $21 million shortfall in 2014, but we were also using global property sales to cover some of our expenses in 2014 that was to the tune of $18 million.
“So when you add those two numbers together you realize in total, in 2014, we were spending $39 … [Read more...]

By Baptist Press Staff/Morning Star News
JUBA, South Sudan (BP) - Two Christian pastors have arrived safely home in Juba, South Sudan, after an eight-month ordeal of imprisonment on fabricated charges of capital crimes in Khartoum, Sudan, and a ban on leaving the country, Morning Star News reported Aug. 19.
Peter Yein Reith, 36, and Yat Michael, 49, were acquitted of the crimes calling for the death penalty on Aug. 5 but were prevented from boarding a plane out of the country the next day. Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) had issued the travel ban when they arrested the pastors, Michael on Dec. 14, 2014, and Reith on Jan. 11.
Although it was not immediately clear why the travel ban was lifted Aug. 19, Michael and Reith were transported from Juba International Airport to a Juba church for a service of thanksgiving.
"Thank God for their arrival home," Michael's wife told Morning Star News after the service.
South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SSPEC) leaders welcomed the pastors, who expressed their gratitude to Morning Star News amid the cheering congregation. An international outcry erupted over their weeks-long incarceration without charges after Morning Star News on Dec. 28, 2014, … [Read more...]

JUBA, South Sudan (BP) -- Two South Sudanese Christian pastors released from prison Aug. 5 after eight months' detention have been banned from leaving the country, Morning Star News reported. The two face no additional charges.
Yat Michael, 49, and Peter Yein Reith, 36, were preparing to board a plane Aug. 6 with their families when Khartoum International Airport authorities stopped them, according to one of the men's attorneys. Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) ordered the ban when the pastors were initially detained -- Yat on Dec. 14, 2014 and Reith on Jan. 11, 2015 -- and gave the orders to the airport personnel, the attorney said.
A relative asked for prayer.
"They have been prohibited from leaving Khartoum," the relative said, "but we are working now with their lawyer, and your prayers are very needed."
The two men had been released after being acquitted of charges that could have garnered the death penalty, being convicted of lesser charges instead and given credit for time served. The attorney clarified that Reith was convicted of "establishing or participating in a criminal organization" (not "breaching the peace" as Morning Star News previously reported), while Michael was convicted of … [Read more...]

By Mark Kelly, Baptist Press
RICHMOND, Va. — All over the world, International Mission Board’s health care missionaries are living out “word and deed” Christian faith, and people are responding with decisions to follow Jesus — some of them in places where the good news of God’s love is only just now arriving.
During the Global Medical Alliance meeting June 1-5 near Richmond, Va., a steady stream of reports illustrated the wide variety of ways Southern Baptists merge proclamation of the gospel with demonstration of God’s love for suffering people:
n In West Africa, as the Ebola epidemic exploded, IMB workers focused on raising awareness and teaching prevention techniques in Liberia, Togo and Mali. About 424,000 people were reached through a combination of fliers, TV spots, speakers, hand-washing stations, music concerts and food distributions. Thousands heard the good news and more than 200 professed faith in Christ.
n In South Asia, a Vacation Bible School offering from First Baptist Church of Lafayette, purchased health and hygiene items that could be shared with terminally ill patients, along with health lessons and Bible stories. The distribution gave believers access to communities where they had been unwelcome before, … [Read more...]

ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan (BP) -- For many who escaped from the violent civil war in Syria, this is their fifth Ramadan in a foreign country. Families in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan are going through a challenging time as they recall happier Ramadan holidays in Syria.
Ramadan, which ends today (July 17), is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
This season is often known for family gatherings when Muslims will prepare a table with abundant food and celebrate together as the sun sets. However, the civil war has taken away those happy moments for these Syrian refugees.
Ahmad,* a 60-year-old Syrian man, misses the days when his family was together. He said with tears, "I was able to escape from Syria, but my daughter's family is still there."
The civil war took away not only the joy of family celebrations, but also their cozy and secure homes. Seven years ago, Abu Badr* built a large house in his hometown with the money he made from more than a decade of hard work in Africa. But he had to flee Syria with empty hands when the civil war broke out, and now he lives in the dusty, windy conditions of Zaatari.
The desert sun is merciless on the refugee tents in the … [Read more...]

By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press
KARAJ, Iran (BP) -- Pastor Farshid Fathi, imprisoned in Iran for his faith since 2010, has been granted a Dec. 10 release from the notoriously brutal Rajai Shahr prison, two years earlier than expected, Elam Ministries has announced.
Ann Buwalda, a board member of the Iranian-led ministry that engages in evangelism and discipleship in the Mideast nation, called the early release "positive news which has greatly encouraged Farshid and his family. We join them in praising God for this development and for those who have made it possible."
The reason for the early release was not given, but Fathi was informed July 4 of his new release date, and the news was revealed to the public two days later, Elam Ministries reported.
Fathi had been imprisoned since his arrest the day after Christmas 2010 at his home in Tehran and was originally taken to Evin prison. In a February 2012 trial, he was convicted of "action against the national security," accused of "cooperating with foreign organizations and evangelism," Elam Ministries said.
His original sentence of six years was extended by a year in December 2014 on false charges. He had been injured in an attack by Evin prison guards on April 17, … [Read more...]

By Staff, Morning Star News
JOS, Nigeria (BP) - The bombing of a mosque by the terrorist group Boko Haram sparked destruction at two churches in Jos, a major city in Nigeria’s north-central state of Plateau.
The churches were attacked the night of July 5 amid a week of violence attributed to Boko Haram in which as many as 300 people were killed, both Muslims and Christians. The terrorist group’s stated aim is to impose sharia (Islamic law) throughout the country.
An initial bomb was detonated at a shopping complex near the University of Jos while the second blast targeted the Yan Taya Mosque just minutes later, according to a report from a pastor in Jos relayed to Baptist Press.
The explosion at the mosque, according to the information received from the pastor in Jos, has been widely seen as direct retaliation against Sheikh Sani Yahaya, who has encouraged Muslims to coexist peacefully with those who hold other religious beliefs.
Subsequently, a crowd of Muslims attacked St. Michael's Parish of the First African Church Mission and, near the mosque, the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Good News Church. The attacks on the church buildings occurred at about 11 p.m.
Isaiah Oluwagbayibi, pastor at St. Michael's, … [Read more...]

By Josh Owens, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
YUNNAN PROVINCE, China (BP) - In China's Yunnan Province, there is an ancient temple made of copper that crowns Jindian Park. In English it is literally "Golden Temple Park," reflecting the Daoist religion that it serves. Here on Jan. 14, 1994, a police officer noticed a five-day-old orphan, took him up and delivered him to the nearby orphanage.
Josh Owens and his sisters Mary (left) and Grace return to China with their adoptive parents, Waylan and Betsy Owens.
Nine months and three days later, that orphan was the first boy ever adopted from Kunming Municipal Children's Home.
I visited that Chinese orphanage a few weeks ago, and for the first time in two decades I entered Jindian Park. As I wandered among the rooms of the orphanage and up the temple trail in that wooded park, thoughts and questions muddled my mind. Why would I, in a nation of a billion, be left alone in Jindian Park? Why did someone notice me and bother to act? Why would all this happen right after China opened itself to foreign adoptions in 1992? And why would I be adopted into this family, my family? I am now 21 years old and even if my existence could be explained, … [Read more...]

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Editorial

By Jerry Pipes
Just Imagine a church or business where there is:
A culture of encouragement
True communication — focused on adding value to others
A positive atmosphere and a spirit of adventure
Members or workers who are committed to understanding first, speaking second
Healthy conflict … Continue Reading.